Inside Jane’s Design World

Jane’s standout style, (which you can peep at @cottonwood312), plus her design and advertising chops, have allowed her to successfully navigate a corporate career as a senior graphic designer and art director, as well as carving her way in the freelance world. Her love of fonts, brush lettering, and calligraphy shine in her type-forward designs. Jane took time away from her artistic world to share insights on her creation process, open up about her sources of inspiration, and talk her tips for social media. Read along and get inspired to remix her templates and seek your sources of design inspiration.

Tell us about where you find your inspiration

I like to go out for a long walk and take pictures of beautiful flowers to find inspiration for my floral designs. Seeing others’ artwork is also great inspiration for me, so I like to go to museums and spend time looking at other artists’ creations. My faith is also a source of inspiration for my lettered designs. Often I’ll be inspired to illustrate a phrase from a sermon I have heard or a quote I have read. I also get a lot of inspiration from participating in lettering challenges on social media. To make sure I never run out of inspiration, I have a long list of phrases I can draw on at any time.

Pro tip: See phrases you love come to life by using a simple Instagram template in Spark Post. The creations will be saved in your “My Posts” for when you’re ready to share and in the meantime, you’ll become a content creating machine whenever inspiration strikes.

What goes into your personal creative process?

I describe my design style as feminine with a lot of florals and a hint of fun.When I am brainstorming or playing with ideas, I start by sketching out concepts in pencil. Once I get inspired to develop a particular design further, I bring that design into Procreate (a raster graphics app for iPad for digital illustration, sketching, and painting).

Once I pick one that I like, I would bring it to Procreate. From there, I trace, edit, and add colors to the piece.

How do you use social media and do you have tips for growing an online community?

I try to post on Instagram at least once or twice a week with my current designs. Another way I promote my creations is by sharing my products (available on Etsy) via IG posts or Instagram Stories.

As for growing an online community, I recommend joining. I like to participate in weekly lettering challenges on Instagram. To build connections with other designers and gain followers, I make sure to comment on other people’s pieces that I like. When commenting I’ve found it’s helpful to use words, and not just emojis, to foster connection.

Pro tip: To build community and hone your illustration and design skills, follow brands like @goodtype who offers a #goodtypetuesday prompt. Or check out @adobespark’s daily remix inspiration and share your own.You’ll flex new design muscles while getting connected with fellow type lovers. Be sure to look for @cottonwood312’s designs!